On the heels of a long night of travel, and with a tough divisional opponent before them in the Saskatoon Blades, the Wheat Kings dug deep and found a way to get first the one point and then the second.
Cole Slobodian scored the overtime winner, and Jaxon Jacobson and Kris Muissu also scored as the Wheat Kings beat the Blades 3-2 in overtime. Filip Ruzicka turned in a star-worthy performance with 36 saves on 38 shots.
“It was nerve-wracking, that’s for sure,” said Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray. “Two teams with not easy nights for them as both played last night and then travelled. Then an earlier game with a time change factored in, I thought both teams played hard.”
A power play opportunity late in the first period turned sour on the Wheat Kings as a clearing attempt took a Blades bounce and produced a 2-on-1. Kazden Mathies sent the puck from the right wing to the left and Ben Bowtell made good on the shot to open the scoring.
Early in the second, the Wheat Kings penalty kill got a big test of their own when Prabh Bhathal was assessed a five-minute major for checking from behind. Owing to good goaltending and dogged shot-blocking, the Wheat Kings killed it off entirely.
Once the penalty was killed off, the Wheat Kings began to press back. Aiden Foster left the puck behind the Blades’ net for Jacobson, and the Wheat Kings’ captain hooked it back out front and bounced it in for his 50th career goal.
With less than a minute to go in the second, the Foster-Jacobson-Muissu trio got on the scoreboard again. Foster dropped the puck off in the neutral zone and Muissu grabbed it and dropped his shoulder, powering his way to the net and lifting home a backhander to give the Wheat Kings the lead for the first time.
The Blades responded midway through the third. Jack Lavallee fired a shot from the right point that Mathies redirected in. The goal was reviewed for a high-stick, but was ruled a good goal to tie the game.
Despite a late Blades’ power play, the two teams remained deadlocked through regulation. For the second game in a row, the Wheat Kings needed overtime against a divisional foe.
Unlike the game in Regina, however, the Wheat Kings wrapped up this one with no need for a shootout. Jacobson fed the puck from the bottom of the right circle from the left point to Slobodian, and the Brandon native stepped in and fired a low, hard shot through Koen Cleaver’s left pad and in.
The win gives the Wheat Kings three of a possible four points on the weekend against divisional foes. It will be a non-conference opponent up next for Brandon, as the Portland Winterhawks will come to town for their lone visit of the season. Puck drop will be 4:00 PM on Remembrance Day.
